Rebuilding DPJ structure urgent task for Noda
"It is out of the question for us to modify the three-party accord [on comprehensive reform of the social security and taxation systems]," Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said.
Noda must rebuild the structure of the Democratic Party of Japan by parting ways as soon as possible with Ichiro Ozawa, who continues to make self-centered assertions, and DPJ members who supported Ozawa.
At a lecture meeting of the Yomiuri International Economic Society in Tokyo, Noda referred to the comprehensive reform bills, which recently passed the House of Representatives following an agreement on the amended bills among the DPJ, the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito.
"The point is for us to responsibly deliberate the bills, worked out by the three parties, at the House of Councillors and get them passed into law," Noda said.
Even after he voted against the bills, Ozawa said, "I will do everything I can to prevent the consumption tax rate from being raised." It is only reasonable for Noda to rebuff such remarks.
Within the DPJ, Ozawa and Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi held three rounds of talks in an effort to find a way out of the impasse. This development has given rise to speculation that the DPJ rebels would leave the party's parliamentary bloc in the Diet while remaining in the party.
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Overcome abnormality
Brushing aside such a move as "out of the question," Noda also said: "It is absurd that while there are [DPJ members] who show their mettle by telling voters in their electoral districts, 'We have no choice but to raise the consumption tax rate,' others from the same party, next to those supporting the tax hike, express their opposition."
Noda should not allow an abnormal situation in which party members are split over key policy issues. He must promptly enforce strict punishments against rebellious members. We hope he will work out a clear course of action at a meeting of party executives early this week.
The point man in this situation is Koshiishi, who holds the key to the punishments. LDP Vice President Tadamori Oshima says the difference in opinion between Noda and Koshiishi has caused a number of problems.
Yet Noda says he believes in the party secretary general, who supports him. It is important for the party leadership, including Koshiishi, to follow party procedures to punish the rebels in a quiet and steady manner.
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Ozawa set on course
Ozawa and his followers are ready to submit letters of secession from the party, making it certain the party will split. Any effort by Koshiishi in talking Ozawa into changing his mind has become meaningless.
Should the party leadership explore ways to engineer a party reconciliation, it may end up damaging the relationship of trust with the LDP and Komeito, which the DPJ has managed to build.
Besides the comprehensive reform bills, there are other issues which require cooperation among the DPJ, the LDP and Komeito and must be tackled during the current Diet session.
Among pending bills is one to allow the issuance of deficit-covering government bonds and another concerning electoral system reform to correct voting disparities in the lower house. Both need to be resolved as soon as possible.
Noda must come up with tangible results in line with his earlier statement: "There is no retreat. We will move forward firmly."
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, July 1, 2012)
(Jul. 2, 2012)
DPJ should firmly refuse Ozawa's unreasonable demand
Former Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa has made an unreasonable demand connected to his threats to bolt from the party. This tactic is fitting for the man dubbed the "destroyer," but we urge the DPJ leadership to flatly refuse his demand.
Ozawa held talks with DPJ Secretary General Azuma Koshiishi three times and said that he intends to leave the party with a group of lawmakers who support him if bills related to comprehensive reform of the social security and taxation systems are voted on and passed at the House of Councillors.
Koshiishi urged Ozawa to reconsider, and negotiations between them are continuing. Ozawa expressed his intention to make a final decision on whether to leave the DPJ as early as the beginning of next week.
Ozawa's demand is very unreasonable and impossible for Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to accept, as he has staked his own political career on passage of the bills.
However, it is a problem that Koshiishi is considering making some concessions to avoid a split in the DPJ.
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Tail wagging the dog
The bills were revised based on an agreement reached among the ruling DPJ, the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito. The agreement has significant meaning since it was compiled based on mutual concessions among the three parties.
However, Ozawa and a few dozen DPJ lawmakers cast ballots against the bills in the House of Representatives. Since that meant a rebellion against the three-way agreement, the LDP and Komeito have responded strongly against their action.
Nonetheless, if the DPJ leadership makes concessions to win Ozawa over, it will be the tail wagging the dog.
The rebellion by Ozawa and others is the inevitable price the DPJ leadership must pay for closing its eyes and trying to cover up serious intraparty conflict over policy issues in the name of maintaining harmony within the DPJ. The chasm in the DPJ is already beyond repair.
What Koshiishi should do is hand down a tough punishment for Ozawa.
First, Ozawa's claim lacks legitimacy, even though he sticks fast to the DPJ's election pledges and insists that the party must carry out its promises to voters.
Nearly two years and 10 months have passed since the DPJ took power. The party's manifesto said it would be possible to generate a total of 16.8 trillion yen annually by squeezing the state budget, but that has already fallen by the wayside. Ozawa was DPJ secretary general for more than eight months, but there is no evidence that he tried to make the election pledges a reality at that time.
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Ozawa implausible
Ozawa is now arguing that other things should be done before raising the consumption tax rate or that the DPJ should return to the starting point at which the party took power from the LDP. But nobody can trust Ozawa unless he clearly shows concrete measures for administrative reform and economic revival.
Ozawa joined the DPJ after forming and dissolving the Japan Renewal Party (Shinseito), the New Frontier Party (Shinshinto) and the Liberal Party since his exit from the LDP 19 years ago.
He is attached to a high-handed and self-righteous political style, which prioritizes political gamesmanship over policy measures, and also to money politics.
"First of all, I myself must change," Ozawa declared in April 2006 when he assumed the post of DPJ president.
However, his moves toward departure from the party show that Ozawa's political style has not changed at all.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 30, 2012)
(Jul. 1, 2012)
Insolvent Chongryon must accept auction of its headquarters
It has become possible at long last for the building and land of the central headquarters of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, known as Chongryon, to be auctioned off. The government-backed Resolution and Collection Corporation should proceed steadily with procedures to collect its loans to Chongryon.
In a lawsuit in which the RCC sought confirmation that the association is the de facto owner of the headquarters building and land, the Supreme Court on Wednesday turned down Chongryon's appeal, finalizing the court verdict entirely in favor of the RCC.
Chongryon's central office is situated in a prime location in the heart of Tokyo and is deemed the North Korean residents group's most valuable piece of property. The top court's decision makes it likelier that Chongryon may be forced to move out of its head office.
Beginning in 1997, credit cooperatives for pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan collapsed one after another.
The government, aiming to protect depositors, injected a huge amount of taxpayer money--more than 1 trillion yen--into 16 such financial institutions for pro-Pyongyang Koreans across the country.
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Overdue loans total 62.7 billion yen
In the process of the cash injection, the RCC took over bad loans from the 16 credit cooperatives and reached the conclusion that 62.7 billion yen of the nonperforming loans had been extended to Chongryon.
Chongryon has therefore been obliged to pay back that amount to the RCC.
It is believed that Chongryon obtained the loans from the cooperatives almost coercively. In Diet deliberations, the question was once raised of whether the funds might have been unlawfully remitted to North Korea.
Chongryon has no corporate status, and the central headquarters building and land have been registered as assets of a separate organization, a partnership company affiliated with the pro-Pyongyang Korean residents association.
In the court battle between the group and the RCC, decisions handed down by the first- and second-instance courts ruled that Chongryon "has the right to dispose of the head office and premises as there are no records that it paid [the partnership firm] for using them." The highest court has fully upheld those rulings.
As long as ownership by the partnership company is in name only, it is natural for the court to judge that Chongryon is the effective owner of the property.
Chongryon, for its part, is considered to lack the solvency to fully cover the 62.7 billion yen it owes.
The RCC has already sold Chongryon-related facilities at auction in such areas as Kyoto, Osaka, Aichi and Fukui prefectures, using the proceeds to cover part of the bad loans involved.
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Public takes a dim view
The government-affiliated bad loan collection agency should calmly and steadily work toward securing a court decision for selling the Chongryon central headquarters building and land at auction.
Chongryon has so far maintained that the RCC has been acting on "a political motivation to drive us into dissolution by depriving us of our central headquarters, which is of pivotal importance to our activities as it has functions comparable to those of an embassy."
The RCC, however, has been acting simply for the purpose of fulfilling its mission of collecting the taxpayer money that was put into Chongryon. Chongryon's argument is definitely off the mark. The group instead must extend cooperation to the RCC in paying back its liabilities.
North Korea has abducted Japanese citizens and has carried out repeated missile launches and reckless nuclear tests.
The Japanese public has cast a skeptical eye on Chongryon, too, as it is under the leadership of Pyongyang.
Chongryon must take to heart that it can never be allowed to evade the obligation to repay the bad loans.
(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, June 30, 2012)
(Jul. 1, 2012)
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